


Branching Out

by hellkitty



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, lostlightfest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 12:39:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8208337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellkitty/pseuds/hellkitty
Summary: For Lost Light Fest. I'm so rusty writing fic, but I can't resist Perceptor.





	

“Is this seat taken?” 

Perceptor startled, shoulder scope banging against his helm as he twitched up from the datapad he’d spread on the refectory table. “Uh, no. I mean, no one’s here. O-other than me.” Not that he needed to remind himself of that. “Nautica, is it?”

“That’s me!” Her mouth curved into a smile, probably the biggest smile he’d seen next to Rodimus’s ‘I am awesome’ grin. This one looked much nicer, in his entirely unexpert opinion. “I’m trying to get to know the crew.” 

“Ah. Good. I mean, that’s a good idea.” He could feel his own clumsiness like something palpable in the air, like all the right words to say in these situations just went on strike. 

And stayed on strike, picketing the table, as the awkward stretched to painfully awkward. “....uh, you’re Perceptor, right?” 

“Oh, right. Right. Yes. That’s me. Perceptor.” So that’s what the normal response was. He kept saying to himself that someday he’d make a scientific study of the algorithms of conversation, but the task of gathering all that data was just...insurmountable. He should probably offer some new information, lest she think he was unfriendly. “I work down in the lab.”

Nautica nodded, settling down on the bench across from him. “I’ve seen you down there with Brainstorm.” 

“You have?” Oh wait, now he remembered. Kind of. He remembered someone with her coloring, at least, and maybe, yes, he remembered the unique timbre of her voice, from the edges of his awareness. “You’re Brainstorm’s friend.” Not just a statement of the obvious, but a statement of, well, another sort of obvious. Brainstorm was not one for sharing, not lab equipment, not food, and definitely not friends. 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She shook her energon, popping the bottle top carefully, and watching the fizz. “I guess you all think he’s done bad things.”

“We’ve all done bad things.” He found himself watching the fizz, too. It was better than looking at her optics. It wasn’t an excuse for Brainstorm as much as, well, a statement of fact. Perceptor felt comfortable in facts, even ugly facts. 

“Yeah, I guess war does that.” The smile faded a bit, but didn’t entirely disappear. “I feel kind of lucky.” 

Of course: Caminus hadn’t known war. It sounded like a fairy tale to him, or Drift’s Crystal City, filled with beauty and scholarship and safety. “I’m sure you had your own problems.” 

“Oh yeah!” Nautica took a swig of her drink. “Political stuff, and people stuff, mostly. Funny how much that stuff seems to matter.” 

“It does matter,” Perceptor said, quickly. A little too quickly, perhaps. “People matter. I mean, that’s,” he had no idea what came next. “That’s the only thing that matters, why we put ourselves through any of it.” At least in his case. 

Nautica swallowed, thoughtfully. “I think you’re right. But.” And he could hear a change of topic coming, and almost lunged for it. Some things felt too raw, still: the Wreckers, the Swarm, Garrus-9 seemed to gape at his feet, under the table. “What you working on down in that lab, anyway?” 

The gaping hole closed up with an almost audible ‘whisp’ sound. “Little things. Mostly trying to work on the systems here.” He took a drink of his own energon. “It’s still a bit new to be working on, well, things that aren’t weapons.” A fugitive smile raced over his lip plates. 

“So, like...nothing pressing?” 

“I suppose not.” His supraorbital ridges knit. “Why?”

“Well, that means you can come to movie night tonight!” 

Movie night? That sounded like it involved other mechs. And a movie. And socializing. “I, er, I mean, I have some cultures I need to rota--”

“We’ll do that together before.” She finished off her drink. “Come on, it’s just going to be a few of us, in a dayroom. Snacks, some engex, and a really bad Earth movie.” She paused, thinking. “You’ve been to Earth, right?”

“Yes.” A question he could answer quickly, but he had no idea why she was asking. 

“Great! That means you can be our Earth translator! I hear human culture can be pretty weird.”

‘Pretty weird’ was an understatement, but he didn’t feel up to arguing the point, next to the larger issue of, well, socializing. “I could. I suppose.” Wait, was he getting talked into this? 

“Fantastic!” The way she said it sounded like fireworks, sparkling and colorful. “I didn’t get to see much outside Caminus before we ran into Thunderclash.” Just like everyone else in the galaxy, her voice seemed to melt at the name. There was a scientific mystery Perceptor should study: Thunderclash’s charisma. Maybe he could start with Rodimus.  
“We didn’t get to see very nice places, mostly.” Especially the Wreckers. None of their visits could be called vacation stops. Debris, after all, was seen as a nice place, by contrast. 

“Well, that’s what all this is for.” She gave a firm nod, as though that settled things. 

“Why?” The question pulled itself from his vocalizer, breaking free from his common sense. “I mean, why me?” That didn’t make it better, even though it was a valid question. “You’re already friends with Brainstorm and...Nightbeat, and Skids, too, I think.” He wasn’t good at tracking people, but the way she’d seamlessly, painlessly, slotted herself into the Lost Light’s crew had rubbed raw wounds on his ego. She’d made it look so easy. 

“So?” She tilted her head. “You act like a person can have too many friends.” 

He couldn’t even handle one. If Drift were still here...he’d probably still be hiding in the lab, while Drift enjoyed the well-earned position on Rodimus’s crew. “I wouldn’t know.” 

“Darn right you wouldn’t know...because you’ve never tried before.” She stood up, gathering his tray under hers, stacking their empties together. “Come on! First to the lab, and then you can Earth and science-check _Back to the Future_ for us.” Apparently he had no choice in this and...suddenly, he didn’t care.


End file.
